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If you want to design for underserved users, look at farmer's markets

If you want to design for underserved users, look at farmer's markets

Design The Designer's Field Guide
Designers should target the 'bottom third' of a market by removing cost and friction barriers rather than just stripping features away.
What: The article suggests that true innovation for underserved users comes from rethinking fundamental workflows, citing Square's simplified payment processing as a model for unlocking new user segments.
Why it matters: Most product development targets the top end of the market. Building for the 'bottom third' requires identifying why a user fails to use a product and simplifying the process to make it universally accessible.
Original article

Designing for the "bottom third" means creating products that remove the cost and complexity that exclude underserved users rather than simply offering cheaper versions of existing solutions. By focusing on the barriers faced by people who try but fail to use a product, designers can simplify workflows, reduce support needs, and unlock entirely new markets—just as Square did by rethinking payment processing for small merchants.

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